Brief history: Thought waterpump was bad, car overheating. Car ran, but would overheat. Took old off, put new on. Lined up timing. Made sure belt was tight. Car turns over, cranks like crazy, but wont fire up.

Methods I have used so far:

Checked for codes, none.
Re-did timing 3 or 4 times to be sure.
Replaced dizzy rotor. I get spark. The dizzy is like 2 months old itself. Made sure I had the firing order correct on the dizzy: 3 4
1 2

Double checked that I get spark. Plenty of it!
Can smell fuel so it's coming in. I have a full tank of premium (93)
Every wire I can find is plugged in, every fuse is fine.

No sounds of back firing. Just cranks over and over. Sometimes it feels like it's firing, but I don't know if it really is.

I'm really short on funds right now, I can barely afford to get the car towed somewhere, let alone have it checked out. I'm hoping to get a friend to come down with the lure of a 6 pack or something.
Ok, so please please please help me get this started. I'm supposed to start a new job next tuesday but I can't even get there so-far!
TIA!!!

 

did you ever have to remove any grounds?

 

Only ground I ever removed was from the battery just in case..since I had to move the alt.

It is hooked back up now though.

 

firing order should be 1-3-4-2

distributor wires located thus:
1 is at bottom closest to firewall - 3 at top closest to firewall - 4 at top closest to front of car - 2 at bottom closest to front of car

 

sorry, my lil diagram got messed up



thats what I used.

 

Have you tried push starting it. A while back when my crx was turboed it would do the same thing just crank and crank and crank, so I tried push starting it and it started right up. To this day I dunno what the problem was, maybe to much fuel, I dunno.

 

you may have the dizzy rotor 180 degrees out of adjustment

 

I haven't tried that. I'm a little hesitant on doing that because The garage it's in is on a pretty steep hill.. So if it doesn't start we gotta try and push it up.. Granted it's not that heavy but I'm not that strong and neither is my friend.
I will put consideration into that thought though. I thought maybe it was getting too much fuel as well.

 

Rotor is pointing at #1 when at TDC. Double checked that too. I'll tripple check though. I don't know how it coulda gone off though, I never took the dizzy off itself nor the cam/cam gear to mess up the alignment with TDC.
I had put it on 180 off once (the rotor) and it sounds exactly like this almost, lol. I will tripple check when I get back to the garage. Thanks for all the speedy replies guys! I never expected this many replies so fast!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by green91 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you may have the dizzy rotor 180 degrees out of adjustment</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'd check on this too.

 

is the rotor tight? try cranking it over with the distributor cap off and see if the rotor is turning - you can't get it 180 out - it only fits one way

 

rotor is tight.

I replaced it because the old one had a ton of play back and forth for some reason, yet I couldn't tighten it anymore

 

oh yeah, just more fyi

I also replaced the tensioner pulley and spring because the belt used to be kinda loose. Now it is nice and tight like it should be.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TiggsCRX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Rotor is pointing at #1 when at TDC. Double checked that too. I'll tripple check though. I don't know how it coulda gone off though, I never took the dizzy off itself nor the cam/cam gear to mess up the alignment with TDC.
I had put it on 180 off once (the rotor) and it sounds exactly like this almost, lol. I will tripple check when I get back to the garage. Thanks for all the speedy replies guys! I never expected this many replies so fast!</TD></TR></TABLE>

how did you put the rotor on 180 off? - it only fits one way - make sure you are at TDC on #1 cylinder with rotor pointing at #1 - you can also be at TDC on #4

 

^ Thats what i though, i put mine back on yesterday and it only whent one way!

 

the rotor can fit 180 off, it's simple. The screw hole goes all the way through.

But I'm certain that it's pointing at #1 when it's at TDC.

the time I had it 180 off was a few months back, not now. I put it on with the same orientation as the old one was on. There's no possible way it got turned to be 180 off now though, I never cranked it without the rotor on, never flipped the cam over or anything, so I don't see how it could be off.

Grr, I hate my car now.

 

Sure does sound like quite a problem, the only 4 things you need for an engine to run are spark, air, fuel and compression.... Heres a free bump.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LSVTEC 91 Civic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the only 4 things you need for an engine to run are spark, air, fuel and compression.... Heres a free bump. </TD></TR></TABLE>


my bumps cost $3.00 + 3% paypal fee.

 

hey now, stop getting me excited over some magical answer when it's only a bump

j/p
thanks for the bumps.

 

check the main relay..
when you turn the key to the on position listen to see if your fuel pump primes
if you dont hear it priming, chances are you have a bad main relay.

 

i'm fairly sure it primes. when i checked a spark plug it had fuel on it as well

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jlicrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">is the rotor tight? try cranking it over with the distributor cap off and see if the rotor is turning - you can't get it 180 out - it only fits one way</TD></TR></TABLE>
sure you can. the only thing holding the part that goes in the cam is a mild steel pin. and thats held in place with a small c-clip. if the pin broke somehow then the rotor will not stay in place.

 

Just grab a handful of friends, and try and push start it. The worst thing that can happen is that it won't start.

My brothers car sat for a few days, and also wouldn't start. I looked at everything for him, and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't turn over. So I went to plan B and push started it. It hesitated a little but turned on. He's been driving it for a days now, and it starts like a champ. I'm thinking it was something fuel related but I never figured it out. I decided that we're going to change his fuel filter next week just because we don't remember if it's ever been changed.

Dude, push start it and see what happens.

 

maybe its flooded. crank it with the throttle open

 

if the throttle is open wont it sense to send more fuel in though?

I think we're gunna try to push start it, its just everyone is at work right now that i don't want to get it suck on the stupid hill.